{{Unreferenced, date=June 2009 In Mexican politics and

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

, a ''charro'' or ''líder charro'' ("charro leader") is a

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

-appointed

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

boss.

Dynamics

Mexico has a long tradition of government control and cooptation of unions and their leaders. Following the Mexican Revolution, the coalition of generals leading the nation under the auspices of the ''jefe máximo''

Plutarco Elías Calles Plutarco Elías Calles (25 September 1877 – 19 October 1945) was a general in the Mexican Revolution and a Sonoran politician, serving as President of Mexico from 1924 to 1928. The 1924 Calles presidential campaign was the first populist ...

that eventually became the

Institutional Revolutionary Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, ; abbr. PRI) is a political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 and held uninterrupted power in the country for 71 years, from 1929 to 2000, first as the Nati ...

(PRI) sought to keep the often fractious labor movement under control, and did so by repressing leaders and movements outside the dominant party. Following the "social revolution" of the Cárdenas years, the government sought to centralize power in the federal government, replacing local union bosses, who had earned the nickname ''pistoleros'' ("gunmen") through their strongarm policies, with college-educated professionals. Under Cárdenas, the

Confederation of Mexican Workers The Confederation of Mexican Workers (''Confederación de Trabajadores de México'' (CTM)) is the largest confederation of labor unions in Mexico. For many years, it was one of the essential pillars of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional ( ...

(CTM), an umbrella of PRI-affiliated unions, became the instrument of PRI domination of labor. But the direct appointment of union bosses was not institutionalized until the administration of

Miguel Alemán Valdés Miguel Alemán Valdés (; 29 September 1900 – 14 May 1983) was a Mexican politician who served a full term as the President of Mexico from 1946 to 1952, the first civilian president after a string of revolutionary generals. His administr ...

, when in the resolution of a dispute within the independent railroad workers' union, the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

pushed for a contract that allowed management greater control over the union. Following the resolution, Alemán appointed "loyal" leaders to the petroleum workers' and miners' unions. The appointed leaders were called ''

charro Charro has several meanings, but it generally refers to Mexican horse riders, who maintain traditional dress, such as some form of sombrero, which in Mexican Spanish are called ''sombrero de charro'' (a charro's hat). The charros could also ...

s'' in derision by the members of the newly usurped unions in reference to Jesús Díaz de León, a leader of the railroad workers' union who was known as "''El Charro''" for attending union functions in the elaborate regalia of the charro, Mexico's traditional cowboy. Díaz de León gained control of the union by means of an interior coup supported by the CTM and President Alemán. In October 1948, he falsely accused his predecessor of misappropriation of union funds to finance his bid for the presidency of the CTM and following the failure of that bid, the establishment of the independent union. The attorney general's investigation led to Díaz de León's ouster from the union presidency, but he was restored by agents of the federal government, who arrested his rival Luis Gómez Z. Díaz de León proceeded to alter union bylaws to deny voting rights to the rank-and-file. He also withdrew the union from the independent coalition. The struggle against ''charrismo'' took on the title of "union democracy", and remains a vital part of the fight for democracy and social justice in Mexico today.

Dynamics

See also